Is freedom a numen?

Freedom is not just a word or an idea. It is a state of mind. It's an individual spirit, nay, a numen. Rumi says in Pahlavi, 'Choon azaad min zihan meen tasavvur-e-azadi' - you're free the moment you think that you're free.

We condition ourselves to be free or enslaved. To be free of all ideas, beliefs, ideologies and isms is actual freedom. A country's independence is not necessarily an individual's freedom or independence. One can remain mentally, subconsciously and psychologically colonised or enslaved in a so-called free or independent country.

Once Buddha's disciple Sariputra asked Buddha, 'When can an individual feel complete freedom?' Buddha said, 'Ipratyami,' Pali for 'this very moment'. We must choose and act freely in every situation we are in. Everything we do is a result of being free because we have a choice.


It's great to celebrate the Independence Day, but it's also a moral responsibility of every individual to ask oneself whether one's really free. Freedom from all social and individual ills as well as negativity, coupled with a clear and fearless conscience, can make us free. A free and independent person calls the whole world his family. Unless we imbibe the universal spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the whole world is a family, true freedom will elude us.